Portal at No.1 Martin Place is a new daytime eatery that gives 100 per cent of profits to charity with ex Mecca chef Michal Siudeja at the helm.
One of Sydney’s most iconic buildings in the heart of the financial district, No.1 Martin Place, is now home to Portal, a social enterprise café from the team behind Folonomo that allows patrons to give back.
Portal has transformed the once empty mezzanine level into a social hub filled with modern art, natural timbers and Scandinavian accents of brass and black into a daytime eatery that gives 100 per cent of profits to charity.
Chef Michal Siudeja (Mecca, The Farmed Table) is behind the menu created from ultra seasonal ingredients sourced from local suppliers – think raw honey from beehives on a Surry Hills rooftop, herbs from Berry in NSW and hand-made Masala chai tea delivered by bicycle.
The project is another social enterprise from The Pure Collective, which launched Sydney’s first “profit for good” restaurant Folonomo in Surry Hills.
At Portal, 100 percent of profits are donated to not-for-profits, with diners able to choose from three charities: Eat Up, an organisation that provides school lunches to Australian children who would otherwise go without, Blue Dragon which rescues children from slavery and human trafficking in Vietnam, and Rural Aid which supports rural Australian communities.
It’s a philosophy shared with Symbol, the group’s third eatery in North Sydney which also houses artist collective Project 504, and its catering arm Ame, which operates on an “eat one, treat one” model, donating a meal to someone in need for every one ordered.
On Portal’s breakfast menu you’ll find Siudeja’s take on a breakfast roll – with homemade milk bun, maple bacon, fried egg, manchego and smoked tomato chutney for $11 – overnight chia and almond bircher with blood orange for $11 and chilled coconut sago pudding with caramelised pineapple and kaffir lime at $9.
Lunch includes seasonal bowls of salads and greens with free-range proteins such as braised lamb, confit salmon, and soy and sesame tofu from $11, and a line-up of sandwiches ranging from free-range chicken with miso mayo, to fried eggplant, bocconcini and romesco from $10.
The café is about making a difference with its front of house staff too. Portal’s floor team are refugees who are part of The Pure Collective’s Symbols of Hope programme, an initiative which offers hospitality training to recently settled migrants who are permitted to stay in Australia, but have yet to receive a visa to work. They do not have access to government services like Medicare while they wait for approval to earn an income which can take up to 18 months.
Portal in Martin Place has free wi-fi, is 100 per cent plastic free and co-founder Nicolas Degryse hopes that it becomes a communal space where people come to eat together, co-work and hang out for the day.
Portal
Mezzanine Level, 1 Martin Place, Sydney
Hours: Mon to Fri, 8am – 4pm
Website: www.portal.org.au
Photo Credit: Supplied
